Monday, November 30, 2009

OEF Summary, Nov. 30, 2009: Remains of US Paratrooper Found in Afghanistan

Dispatches from the Front:

WASHINGTON, Nov. 30, 2009 -- The remains of a U.S. paratrooper reported missing since early this month in western Afghanistan were recovered yesterday, military officials said.

The body of Army Sgt. Brandon Islip was recovered from the Bala Murgahab River in Badghis province after a local Afghan resident provided information on his whereabouts, officials said.

Islip, a paratrooper with the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, went missing with another paratrooper Nov. 4 after being swept away by a fast-moving current while on an airdrop re-supply mission in western Afghanistan.

The recovery comes weeks after British divers found the body of Islip’s fellow soldier, Spc. Benjamin Sherman, who was posthumously promoted to the rank of sergeant.

“The recovery of Sergeant Islip and Sergeant Sherman would not have been possible without the untiring support and efforts of our fellow international forces, the Afghan national security forces and the local people of Bala Murghab,” said Col. Brian M. Drinkwine, commander of the 4th Brigade Combat Team, to which the two soldiers were assigned.

A memorial service for the two paratroopers will be held in Afghanistan in the coming days, officials said.

In other operations around the country, Afghan and international forces detained several suspected militants yesterday in Wardak province while pursuing a militant Taliban commander involved in weapons trafficking.

In a separate operation yesterday, an international security force killed an enemy militant and detained several others in Kandahar province while pursuing a Taliban district commander. The commander has ties to local senior militant leaders and weapons traffickers and is responsible for local attacks involving small arms and improvised explosive devices, or IEDs.

On Nov. 28, an international force detained several suspected militants in Logar province while pursuing a Taliban roadside bomber involved in several attacks in the area.

Elsewhere in the country Nov. 28, 12 inmates broke out of a prison in Farah province by digging a tunnel from their cell to the outside. Officials captured a 13th prisoner as he tried to escape, officials said.